Sorta looks like there's a trend with reduced PC sales impacting Windows. It will be interesting a year from now to see (given that it's released for Holiday 2012 and all) if we see Windows 8 reversing the trend. Of course, the economy could just be better by then.

End of the obligatory quarterly post.

Briefly: what's going on here? Well, obviously, not much.

The only thing I've felt an urge to write about recently is Microsoft's curiously messed up media strategy when it comes to video and music. Zune Music is on its deathbed, Media Center moved back to Windows and that basically put it on indifferent life support. Microsoft breaking from Dolby in Windows 8 means a lot of stuff that used to work out of the box won't. But maybe the mess is simply a chaotic churn of local media assets being deprecated for services and for Xbox to start replacing media PCs.

I'm none to happy, but I'm one of those dinosaur's who loves the dickens out of his Media Center setup.

That small missive aside: I've avoided putting the Mini Cap on just because of dealing with the constant drone of negativity. Yeah yeah I made that bed and the chickens are coming home to roost in it. Or something like that. Comment moderation right now is a necessity and one big bumming drag. So I stopped. Sorry you 120+ pending comments. Once Google Blogger has native support for community influenced commenting (just voting up and down, that's all I want) I'll be more interested in resuming posts. For now, it's gotta be something major for me to put that Mini Cap on.

39 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Glad you drop in from time to time, Mini. You're missed when you go underground.

I'm a member of the 1400, and I'm curious whether there's a hiring boom of late. A Microsoft recruiter recently contacted me (not that I'd consider returning -- too bitter for that), and I thought that was odd.

Actually, I think it is a good time to return in the right strategic role. If you can weather the storm a couple years you could be in place to help drive and create change in the field and/or corporate.

I was in numerous roles over the years from Premier to MCS to ATS and see how that knowledge has helped in the outside. Seeing from the outside into MSFT the last two years allows for some clarity and opportunity to see the ability to help the company in the future.

MSFT is in flux now like many companie and need some of these changes to help it mature into something else for the better.

Overall the results were reasonably good. They reflect the changing landscape - STB and MBD churn out products that are good, Win client less so - the rest are high volume, low margin. Win 8 and Phone are wild-cards that may bear fruit.

The internal issues remain problematic, and may well prove intractable, unless MSFT has a "Kodak Moment" - let's hope not!

After windows 8 ships, this division will no longer be a cash cow. Consumers don't want this crap, neither does the enterprise. They want to compete with the iPad, but windows 8 won't come anywhere near it,

The real issue is: when will the review model change to consider team-based results?!

Right now, you are better being the "1" in a team that never ships anything, than being the 3-4-5 in a team driving business results. Consequence: a lot of people using all their time to preach their perfect knowledge in several discussion lists, but they never ship anything!

From homeowners to agile lists, you see almost always the same names, repeating the same statements, on the same recurring discussions. How is it that such people find time for that, when I can barely get out of "bug jail"? I know that bugs wouldn't exist if my team had well-defined scenario, used test-driven development, and followed scrum to the letter, despite the fact that I joined the company just 3 years ago and the code I'm fixing has more than 20 years! Could we just fire all those posting BS to agile lists that cannot start WinDbg and fix bugs in the products that make money? That would increase morale company-wide! I also want to have fun developing games or web services, but please let me know who would instead do the sustained engineering?

I've been gone and on to a better place for almost 1 year (after 16 years). I've had much time to reflect. My conclusion is that the company has changed in ways that makes it a bad investment and a non-recommended place to work. I base this mainly on a certain type that has trickled and then flooded in as new hires in the last decade or more: people that want stability and a job; people that got CS degrees because it was a good career move. People that work 9-5 and have 'safe' opinions. And a shift to top-down decision making. In short, they spend a great deal of mental time thinking about the review process and pleasing thier manager. It's the Peter Principle and more. Nothing good can come from this.

Mini, please, give a link to another blog, where the employees can comment and share their knowledge. I am really not interested in your posts, but eagerly read every comment about how to survive in this crappy company

With the amount of stealth layoffs, 4s and 5s unjustly given out, and the horrible morale inside MS right now, I can't imagine innovation happening under those circumstances.

As for the record revenue, I would think this has a lot to do with short term cost controls (cutting your employees).

Wait until MS marketshare slips more and more while Apple and others continue to dominate the newer markets.

I've moved on from Microsoft and I just feel like a heavy weight has been lifted from my shoulders...

Please, if you are working at MS and you don't wake up wanting to go to work, LEAVE and find something better! It exists, and it isn't difficult to find these jobs... you are in demand if you are good at tech and a good people person!

"The real issue is: when will the review model change to consider team-based results?!"

I think the current philosophy is that the lack of team score spurs cross pollination that benefits the company as a whole. This is supported by HR transfer policies, if not by certain orgs that discourage moves during release cycles.

If you know the orgs I'm talking about, congratulations you're not a troll :)

Hey Mini, so good to see your Quarterly post. I well understand your ennui after 8 years of banging head on brick wall, but ... I hope you can find it somewhere to post more than at quarterly results. Even with all the trolls, acrimony and plain stupid comments, your page always has the most interesting, valuable and authentic discussions about MSFT on the web.

>I hope you can find it somewhere to post more than at quarterly results. Even with all the trolls, acrimony and plain stupid comments, your page always has the most interesting, valuable and authentic discussions about MSFT on the web.

I don't hate MS. I use its products at work with relatively little complaints. At home I chose Apple for the simple reason that some software I depend upon did not exist for Windows when I had to make the choice, and now I am kinda used to it. But I also play games on the XBox360.

When it comes to Windows 8, I am actually not sure MS can make a huge impact. Why do I say this?

Well, I think the latest XBox upgrade was supposed to make this look and feel more like the upcoming Win8. And it sucks.

It sucks big time.

Here's why.

Adverts in my Dashboard? WTF??? I pay for the XBox, I pay for my Live Gold membership, I HATE ads and I absolutely do not want to see them when I play on MY hardware, over MY internet connection using MY gold account, not some freebie ad-sponsored stuff where this is okay.

Let's continue. Usability... not.

I used all kinds of UIs on all kinds of stuff in my time. MS-DOS. Unix shells. Telnet- and FTP-shells on the internet before the time of HTML. X-Windows. Win3.0. All sorts of Windows versions up to Win7. Mac OS X. Linux with various GUI flavours. iOS on the iPhone and iPad. Original XBox. Sony PS2. XBox360 up until now. So I think I have a little experience with UIs.

But for the love of God, I ALWAYS get lost on the new XBox360 one. Every time (!) I want to watch some video of upcoming game releases, I have to spend several minutes to find where it is. I kid you not. It is, if I remember correctly (!!!), hidden behind some Video app. But as I never downloaded an app for my XBox (had no idea this is possible), I simply do not look there at first. (I check this on the XBox as I type this; again had to search... gaaar...). And then I have to choose "Zune videos" (I think so; I am running it in German and have to retranslate the things I see on the screen to English).

WHAT???!?!?

First of all, "Zune" has a lousy name in the market (sorry if I offend someone, but that is the perception outside MS) as an also-ran that failed badly against Apple. I really, really don't want to click on it and instinctively click everywhere else first, before I try this. And I don't understand why there are other "apps" (I use the term loosely) for videos, I think some Media Center. Hey, I don't run a Win-based home network and I don't care about this one bit. It adds to the confusion.

And when I finally click on it, it takes forever to start. I press "B" (cancel) from time to time because it seems as if something accesses the internet, and I want to watch the stuff on my HD. In general, the performance navigating forwards and backwards is absolutely breathtaking, but not in a positive sense.

Well known (and already leaked) impending layoffs in CMG in the next two weeks. Partner-level on down impacted. Would like to hear the community's thoughts on the strategic decision being implemented by ChrisCap and others and what it means for the company longer-term.

I like reading the comments because while 70% of them may be drivel, the 30% of truth is more refreshing than any line from my management.

I'm in Office, and there are plenty of bad decisions from VPs we've had to deal with. We also know that we'll be blamed for "bad execution" when they don't work out. But the one brave soul who called out the VP no longer works at the company. He wasn't a 4 or a 5. And he was't disrespectful or wrong. He just spoke up.

But I have a family and retirement to consider. So this is my only outlet for sanity.

I've avoided putting the Mini Cap on just because of dealing with the constant drone of negativity.

Good call. Even as a reader the negativity was often toxic -- I can only imagine what it's like as moderating. So like everybody else I miss your perspectives and the discussions here, but you're making the right choice. Hopefully the rest of your life is more positive!

This is one of my favorite sites, precisely because of comments, not posts. I'm sorry that Mini lost the patience for moderation, even with so many trolls and negativity it was really refreshing reading insightful posts here and there. I hope Mini will be back for annual review.

"The 1400" were the first big set of layoffs 3 years ago this week, that had very little to do with ability or value or performance, but were done by people at the GM level looking at a box and choosing to cut that person, without regard to who was in the box, why they were there, or what they could do. Followed for most of this group by six to seven months of job search.

And Mini, don't be a big chicken. You should be able to handle a little negativity out there. Truth hurts too much?

What has happened to the 4 and 5 ranked people, either in your group or to people you khow?

"But the one brave soul who called out the VP no longer works at the company. He wasn't a 4 or a 5. And he was't disrespectful or wrong. He just spoke up. But I have a family and retirement to consider. So this is my only outlet for sanity."

Keep sucking up to the management and you'll be fine. Write 1 line of code and rant about it for 1 hour in the meeting. After all the only thing management cares about is "visibility". Hey you can even play strip tease with management to get "better" visibility.

Mini, I think you should embrace the old truism "if one person tells you that you have a tail you can safely ignore it, but if two people tell you then you should turn around and take a look."

There's a reason that the overwhelming majority of comments here are negative: it's because the company is in the shitter and has been for so long now that there aren't that many positive people left.

Your blog was interesting when there was a chance that it would make a difference. Eight long years have shown that it hasn't made any difference, and indeed is just an outlet for angry people to vent.

Either live with the negativity or shut the blog down -- excessive moderation will only make you appear to be a shill for the company.

I left Microsoft a few months ago after 15 years -- the first ten were awesome, the last five were a nightmare because things changed long ago and they're not going to get better. Accept it and move on -- that's the healthy strategy.

8 years is probably too long for this kind of blog. It's a different world and people have largely forgotten why you even started it.

We've had 7 PMs leave my org this calendar year for other companies. Maybe one or two were candidates for 4 or 5s. They are now "consultants" for my product. However, the remainder were not. One was definitely a favorite and was in the Bench program. The favorite went to facebook (where all of the talent seems to want to go), and the rest went to Amazon or HTC.

My manager told me how the company is working to push out the failures with this new system and I should "hang tight." It seems like they are taking down the best while they're at it.

My team is basically fine. Every once and a while I get the sense that people are competing with each other for attention, and thats really really annoying. I would like to be able to show off my impact to my family quicker than every 2 years.

- Drone implies some sort of buzzing, irritating sound from somewhere, something, can't quite see it but it keeps flying around my head. Swat the damn bug and kill it, yes, that is definitely a way to go, or put it in a jar with a lid on it (comment moderation) and wait for it to die. All imply that it deserves to be killed rather than let it be, or maybe see if there is a reason for the buzzing, like that you have left the meat out on the table in the sun. Fly? Yellow jacket? Wasp? A wasp nest nearby? Something to pay attention to?

- Negativity. A sign of frustration with how things are. Implies that things could be better. A result of gross inequity in who gets what, who does what, the whole reward split thing. Not really a sign of character deficiency, rather a discouragement that is holding people back, holding them down, keeping them from knowing whether there is value in bringing their "A" game, or whether it will be meaningless come next review cycle, when the requisite D and F grades are distributed.

Even the minions have something to say, perhaps even with value or substance to it. One of my favorite things on this blog is/was when a thinking manager weighs in with explanation, description of the "why" of something, where we have been and where we can go.

Will the negativity of the ranking system (please don't say rating, that's where things would actually be rated according to criteria comparison, not stacked from top to bottom like this new who-gets-kicked-off-the-island system), what is the damage to what is possible, how do we do damage control and alter it before next cycle? That would be a topic for discussion, what have we done by acting like this fixed review rank crap is useful to a company like this. Will the desire to do something great moving forward supersede the desire to protect yourself and keep the next guy from reaping all the rewards while you get spaghetti again next year? $6.62 billion, but can't share the wealth? Company needs help meeting the healthcare costs? Can't give everyone a decent bonus making that much cash in a quarter? Please. How about an extra bonus, at mid-year, for results like even Boeing dishes out?

Brilliant insights from Mary Jo, Ina, Todd and company aside, the Windows division will be back. The PC is soon to get a new interface, support for ARM, sensors and touch. If Win8 is done right (it appears to me that it is) the Windows division will again be talked about as a growing business.

Apple, has not even attempted what Win8 does integrating the iPad with the Mac. By next year the Tablet will be redefined as an ultrathin, touch enabled $700 PC. There is revenue in that. Here Sinofsky gets it. Windows has bright days ahead if they can keep their engineers around.

Mini, please, give a link to another blog, where the employees can comment and share their knowledge. I am really not interested in your posts, but eagerly read every comment about how to survive in this crappy company

Agreed - the breaks between posts are too long (I don't even read the posts, just the comments).

Disclaimer

These are sole individual personal points-of-view and the posts and comments by the participants in no way represent the official point-of-view of Microsoft or any other organization. This is a discussion to foster debate and by no means an enactment of policy-violation. These posts are provided "as-is" with no warranties and confer no rights. So chill. And think.